December 29, 2003
The Beagle (European Mars Lander) has failed to 'phone home':
Scientists have ruled out two possible explanations for their inability to pick up signals from Europe's Beagle 2 Mars probe and discovered another -- a large crater where the vessel was supposed to land.
My first thought when reading this is that the ship crashed into the planet and created the crater. It seems that is not the case (due to the size of the crater):
While they cannot make out the ship itself, the image shows a 1 km (0.62 mile) wide crater at the center of the 70 by 10 km (43.5 by 6 mile) target area near the Martian equator, Pillinger said. It is possible, although unlikely, that the Beagle may be unable to communicate because it landed in the crater, he said.
It is very sad to imagine the lost beagle up there on the Red Planet. I hope they remembered to pack one of these.
